Your phone number is a signature so sharing it can be a costly mistake
‘Subscription’ competitions are pricey.. and you may not realise you’ve even entered
Did you know you can be charged just for receiving a text – even if you don’t open it? And inputting your mobile phone number online can be just like signing a contract.
One of our readers learned all this to her cost recently when €22.50 was charged to her mobile phone account for getting involved in a weekly competition she does not recall entering.
She is not alone. Two Irish watchdogs have flagged a growing problem with Premium Rate Services to mobile phones – and ‘subscriptions’ where people sign up to pay a regular sum.
Telecoms regulator ComReg noted a spike in queries and complaints recently involving PRS. ‘PRS issues raised with ComReg’s Consumer Line has increased from 1,285 [in the second quarter] to 1,827 in Q3 2016,’ the watchdog’s latest report said. Over the same period the number of PRS complaints shot up from 28 to 173.
The European Consumer Centre Ireland also said subscription services (including PRS) were a major source of confusion among consumers. ‘We get a lot of complaints about subscription services in general. But they can be operating within the law. Consumers also need to be aware if they are signing up for something and also what they are signing up for,’ a spokeswoman said.
Our reader told us how she was surprised to find €22.50 deducted from her account to pay for three weeks’ subscriptions to a company called SB7 Mobile Ltd, trading as Minted Mobi. After she noticed the deductions and cancelled the subscription by texting STOP to the service provider – as advised by ComReg.
After we contacted SB7 on her behalf, the money was refunded in full. While welcoming this, she wasn’t happy with her experience.
‘Luckily, I was vigilant, watching my bill, or I would have been charged a fortune,’ she said. SB7 maintained that the reader provided her number when entering a competition, although she said she has no recollection of this.
When she requested proof, SB7 provided a time and date. Our reader has since requested further details such as an IP address. SB7
runs competitions through pop-up online ads. They may offer a prize such as €500 in Tesco vouchers. You may have to answer a simple question – such as how often you go shopping. This leads to another page, again featuring the Tesco name, which requests your phone number.
In small print Minted Mobi states that it is not affiliated with any of the listed products or retailers. But someone glancing at the page without paying too much attention would be comforted by the Tesco presence.
SB7 said it texts entrants a PIN number, which must be entered to verify their phone numbers. A text costing €7.50 is then sent weekly to pay for entering the competition. You will be charged for this even if you don’t open the text.
When I contacted SB7 for comment, a legal firm responded. It issued this statement: ‘Minted Mobi operates in a very highly regulated sector and we are fully compliant with those laws and regulations. While we appreciate that our competitions may not appeal to everyone, we do have many satisfied weekly winners.’ But who exactly are SB7 Mobile Ltd? The UK firm’s accounts list two directors: Jonathan Paul Brown and an Irish national, John Roncalli Sammon, both with the same correspondence address in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, south-east England.
On the UK section of Mintedmobi.com it states ‘£250,000 is “to be won” each week’ among other prizes. But, perhaps significantly, the website doesn’t state that £250,000 will be won every week.
SB7 seems to be doing very well. Its 2015 accounts list cash at bank and in hand of £358,757 and net current assets of £144,159 – less than the weekly prize amount.
But just a year later, it had twice as much cash and the net assets figure had increased sevenfold to over £1 million.
Consumers have to take some responsibility for their online actions. If you were walking down the street and a stranger came up to you with a 20-page contract, you wouldn’t sign it in a million years.
Yet people don’t seem to be aware that giving your mobile phone number or credit card details online represents a similar commitment.